I’m going to write a series of posts talking about “Flexible Dieting;” a.k.a. “IIFYM.” IIFYM stands for “If it fits your macros,” which is the idea that you can eat whatever you want to achieve changes in body composition, as long as it all fits into your Calorie and macronutrient ranges for the day.
I tend to veer away from using the term “IIFYM” in favor of “Flexible Dieting,” because there’s a sort of negative connotation with IIFYM; a lot of people think it means making terrible food choices for every meal. While I’m sure there are those out there who do make poor food choices the majority of the time, there are also many out there who do it right.
What does that mean, “Do it right”?
This is what I’ll be examining over the next few posts. In this first post, I will talk about why flexible dieting works, and how you’re able to eat everything from vegetables to ice cream, and still achieve whatever body composition goals you want.
So why would someone want to do flexible dieting?
The biggest reason I advise flexible dieting is the flexibility it gives you– You don’t have to restrict yourself from foods unnecessarily. If you make room in your daily nutrition for something, you can have it! An example I give my clients is how much I love chocolate: I eat chocolate daily. Pancakes are one of my all time favorite foods: I eat them regularly. I eat animal crackers, strawberry preserves, chicken nuggets, etc. I don’t have to have a “cheat day,” because every day, I eat foods I enjoy based on whether they fit into my goals; not based on some arbitrary distinction between “good” and “bad.”
It’s also very easy to develop a binge eating disorder by unnecessarily restricting yourself– By being flexible, however, you can avoid that (or work to fix it if you’re experiencing it) by promoting a healthy relationship with food, which is very important! Now, you can have a serving of ice cream (that fits within your macros) rather than destroying a whole gallon of ice cream because you don’t know when you’ll allow yourself to eat it again.
You can’t be serious. You can’t lose weight with ice cream!
The basic principle behind weight loss, and weight gain, is “Energy Balance.”
If you want to lose weight, eat less Calories than you burn; if you want to gain weight, eat more Calories than you burn. It’s that simple. (Source | More reading about energy balance) There are some that believe that they’re made differently; that they’re somehow special and live outside the laws of our universe. If you think that about yourself, I’m sorry to break it to you, but you are not exempt from the First Law of Thermodynamics. If you are, please submit your body to science, as you’re the first being that has managed such a feat.
But I’ve heard certain foods make you fat and others make you skinny!
If someone tells you that certain foods, by default, make you fat, they don’t know much about nutritional science. Likewise, if they say a food will make you skinny, they’re terribly misinformed, and are likely trying to sell you an agenda. To illustrate this point, let’s discuss the three main macronutrients (commonly referred to as “Macros”): Fats, Carbohydrates, and Proteins. As a blanket statement, we can say that all foods are comprised of a combination of these, as these are “energy yielding” nutrients– That’s just a fancy way of saying they contain Calories. In fact, a “Calorie” is really just a measure of how much energy is contained in the food from the combination of macros. (Source)
A common misconception about macronutrients is that your body can differentiate where it came from– People claim there is a magic sensor inside your body that tells your body if the sugar molecule you consumed came from ice cream vs. a banana, and it should treat it differently.
Your body can’t.
This is why flexible dieting works. In the body, all macronutrients are broken down into “substrates;” Carbohydrates, no matter where they came from, get broken down into one of 3 “Monosaccharides;” Proteins, no matter where they came from, get broken down into individual amino acids; Fats, no matter where they came from, get broken down into (or remain as) triglycerides. (More reading on Macronutrients)
Are you sure that’s right?
Yes. To illustrate, though, let’s look at two different foods, and what will happen when eaten. Let’s take a twinkie.
A twinkie has 4.5g of Fat, 27g Carbohydrates, and 1g Protein. Let’s compare that to a 100g of avocado: 15g of Fat, 9g Carbohydrates, and 2g Protein. In both cases, the Fats will be broken down into triglycerides; the Carbohydrates will all be broken down into one of three monosacharides (Glucose, Fructose, or Galactose); and the Proteins will all be broken down into individual amino acids.
I’m still not convinced.
Let’s take an even simpler example: Let’s say you have a can of cola sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, a bottle of cola sweetened with sugar, and a banana– 3 examples that are all very high in carbs. What will all of the carbs in these examples be broken down into? 1 of 3 monosaccharides: Glucose, Fructose, or Galactose; and they’re all the exact same molecule. (Source)
I’m still not sure I believe you. How can you lose weight eating “bad foods”?
First off, I can’t think of anything that I’d call a “bad food.” There are foods that aren’t very nutritious, but it’s still not a “bad food.” Thinking of foods in terms of “good” and “bad” is a poor mentality to have. Also, there’s a fantastic story about a nutrition scientist that wanted to demonstrate the principles of energy balance to his students by following a 10 week “convenience store diet,” and he ended up losing 27 pounds. (Read about it here)
So I should go eat twinkies all day!?
Not exactly. While it’s true that a “Calorie is a Calorie” in terms of body composition / energy balance, there is something else to consider. In my next post, I’m going to talk about nutrient density and variety, which addresses this. Many people will make the claim that not all Calories are created equal; from a healthful diet standpoint, they do have a point; in terms of fat loss, though, they’re way off!